TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading and for the past 25 years has presented a 4 day conference of amazing speakers and performers. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. To get a flavor of TED and TEDx, check out the videos of past TED and TEDxtalks.

Maui Makers at TEDxMaui

The producers of our local TEDxMaui event, Katie McMillan and Sara Tekula, graciously invited Maui Makers to show some interactive artwork and have an information/display table outside the event on Sunday January 22, 2012. This was an opportunity we could not pass up. I (Jerry Isdale) had been working on an interactive LED art piece for the Source Maui event in February (its our local burning man inspired event). That piece would be incomplete and inappropriate for the TEDxMaui venue, but a prototype would be a great talking point.

Brian Thomas with help from Cole Santos put together a great display board with pictures and text to show and explain the Makers. Ziz Seykota brought down a whole selection of tools and projects, including the solar rechargeable battery pack he created using batteries harvested from the discards at Community Work Day. Ziz uses a 12v inverter to run various AC powered devices, including his guitar & bass amplifiers. Ben Ward brought his cool multi-touch table with DJ software.Crystal Jean Baranyk brought in some of the art she made with laser cut parts. Evelyn Zayas brought in some samples of the soft circuit/sewable electronics her Kihei Charter School kids had made. Aside from the LED art piece, I brought out our Eggbot, Makerbot Cupcake CNC and a number of sample pieces from these devices and the laser cutter. A good number of makers stopped by the booth to chat and help out (like Chris Taylor in pic above). All in all it made a great display table.

We had a fair number of people come round to check things out. Many remarked that it was the first they had heard of the Maker movement and were quite interested. I expect we will have a good number of people stopping by our blog here and at our Thursday Public Meetings. If you are one of our new friends, please check out the ABOUT page, come to a meeting and read up on our google group.

A week or so ago, Katie uploaded a pic of the what I thought was the goodie bag to Facebook. I commented it needed EL wire. I brought some with me to the event and sewed it on while listening to the speakers.

TEDxMaui gave these nylon bags to attendees. I though they needed ELwire

The piece currently has two modes, controlled by the button. Demo mode simply cycles a rainbow pattern across the length of the tape. This comes from the AdaFruit LED Belt project. Interactive mode uses the wind vane and IR sensors. The IR pair controls the length of the tape that will light up. Two sensors are used because the long range one gives flaky results when the target is less than 25cm away. The short range one lets us compensate for this response curve. The Wind Vane (from SparkFun’s weather kit) controls the color of the lights… Colors change with the wind… or hand turning. I plan to investigate more sensors an modes of operation for the Source installation.

The use of both the solderless breadboard on Freakduino and the soldered connections on proto shield allowed me to make some quick changes during the late night development leading up to TEDxMaui showing. It also showed the fragility of solderless breadboard connections… There were some 30mph wind gusts during the day and they wrecked havoc on our and other display tables. The connections microRaxx box blew over and a couple of the wires came loose. In my haste to get it back together, I miss wired a couple and did not catch the error for a couple hours. Solderless breadboard are great for experimenting and prototypes, but for any sort of even semi-robust demo setup, you need soldered connections.

Maui Makers isn't just for grown ups! Bring your grade school kids to learn and play with the Art of Tinkering. We have acquired many styles of play toys for technology

Children under 12 MUST be accompanied by an adult.

Class fee is $10.00 per session, but FREE to Family Memberships of Maui Makers . For more information, please go to our website, www.mauimakers.com

The address is 362 Pakana St Wailuku It is too new to show on mapping services. It is the last building on the right before the T intersection there are three big bay doors on the building - we are the two furthest from the street.

Maui Makers isn't just for grown ups! Bring your grade school kids to learn and play with the Art of Tinkering. We have acquired many styles of play toys for technology

Children under 12 MUST be accompanied by an adult.

Class fee is $10.00 per session, but FREE to paid members of Maui Makers. For more information, please go to our website, www.mauimakers.com

We may be hosting a Cub Scout Den from Pack 808 our Menehunes are free to join in the activities but a kit fee may be charged for the project they are doing.

The address is 362 Pakana St Wailuku It is too new to show on mapping services. It is the last building on the right before the T intersection there are three big bay doors on the building - we are the two furthest from the street.